Six countries and hundreds of thousands of volunteers join their efforts in the fight against illegal garbage

Within next week extensive civic cleanups will take place in Hungary, India, Bangladesh, Nepal, Cameroon and Canada as a part of the biggest and most ambitious civic movement in history - World Cleanup 2012. Though the cleanups are held in 4 different continents, the goal is the same: to make a difference in our living environment.

There have already been 31 cleanups with around 1 million participants in 28 different countries since the beginning of the cleanup year, 24th of March 2012, and there are still many ahead. Hungarian cleanup takes place on the 2nd of June followed by cleanups in Lucknow (India), Bangladesh and Nepal on the 5th of June and cleanups in Cameroon and Nova Scotia (Canada) on the 6th and from the 8th to the 9th of June.

Hungary will participate in nation-wide cleaning action for the second time and has already more than 60 000 participants signed up to clean the country. According to the organizers, they expect around 100 000 people to join on the cleaning day. Hungarian country-wide voluntary waste collection action involves country’s all regions and aims to collect and remove thousands of tons of waste - the amount is estimated by the experience from the previous year when volunteers collected 3000 tons of waste. “Our slogan is: “U grab it! Team up for a cleaner Hungary!” and we would like to raise attention to the force of cooperation in order to create together a cleaner Hungary,” explains Mr. Sándor Fazekas, Minister of Rural Development of Hungary and the patron of the country-wide voluntary waste collection campaign.

The cleanup action in Cameroon titled “Let’s Clean Cameroon” aims to sensitize all segments of the population, not only on their civic responsibility to keep their environment clean, but also on the urgency for an action to address the waste issue. More than 1.5 million people in Cameroon are expected to come out to clean up their country on this day. “Each and every one of us generates waste and must contribute to this new wave of environmental rehabilitation,” says Frederick Mbah, coordinator for Let’s do it Cameroon. The clean-up actions will also go a long way to educate the public on new simple ways of recycling. The aim is to clean up all types of waste: plastics, glass, old shoes, old clothes, non plastic papers, food scraps and stagnant sewer water. “During our clean-ups in 10 regions of Cameroon we hope to eliminate 74 thousand tons of illegal waste,” adds Mr. Mbah.

Bangladesh is planning to clean 2000 tons of waste in 100 sub-districts all over the country by involving 50 000 people and 100 organizations. This type of action is held for the first time in the history of Bangladesh with the mission to clean Bangladesh and this way contribute in cleaning the world. “Human beings were not created to litter the planet. It has happened somewhat unconsciously. So let's come together with the call of “Let's Do It” to protect and clean our mother Earth,” says the campaign coordinator Mahbub Hasan.

World Cleanup 2012 is supported by Skype, Outfit7, Estonian Air and Carlson Rezidor Hotel Group.